Grumpy But Gorgeous

Feb 19, 2019 | By: Chele Jones Photography

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When Irvine High School senior, Alexcia S. asked to have her senior portraits made in Target, I was immediately up for the challenge! Setting the scene for senior portraits is not only an important part of each session, it's a way to personally connect each teen with their milestones and accomplishments and Target is important to Lexi because it's her very first place of employment.

I decided to arrive a little bit early to scout the store for interesting, fun, and ideal shots. Location scouting is a big part of my planning and styling strategy for each session. I started in the Junior's section because...SEQUINS! and quickly moved to the jewelry section because GLITTERRRRR! There were so many ideas running through my mind and I love the perspective of shooting through stuff, finding reflections, and all the different angles I could get.

Lexi's most notable request was to get a few shots in her work uniform and most definitely she HAD to be IN a shopping cart! So once we cleared it with the store manager, we grabbed a cart and headed for the snack aisle! The funniest part of taking these shots, was the number of shoppers who passed by us, completely expressionless, and acted like NOTHING was going on!

Our next stop was the Home Decor Department. The biggest challenge of Lexi's Target photoshoot, was more about finding the natural light within those areas we wanted to shoot. Our one big rule from the store manager was to make sure we didn't bother the shoppers by bringing in a bunch of equipment and using flash and reflectors. On a side note: I will do a lot to get the shot, but it's also super important for us, as an industry rule, to respect the wishes of those kindly allowing us to use their property for the sake of art.

Since Lexi's senior session was part of her answer to my class of 2019 model call, her session was only an hour long. I seriously didn't anticipate wishing for more time in a Target but, WOW, our ideas were endless around every corner and our minds were definitely on the same page for the boundless opportunities.

There were the obvious spots, like the floral department display. There were the less obvious spots we came up with, on the fly, like this rose gold mirror and a coffee cup that says "Grumpy but gorgeous" that we used to make a cozy little me-time coffeeshop scene complete with pillows and houseplants. Obviously there was nothing "grumpy" about her! Home Decor was her favorite part of the whole session, she said.

Aside from our mutual love of Target, I found that Lexi and I had a lot of other things in common... we both adore cats, fashion, coffee, and especially love makeup tutorials and Morphe eyeshadow palettes. In fact, we had to pass on the remaining spot we really wanted to shoot (the makeup aisles) because it was always full of shoppers.

And it wouldn't be a proper Target shoot without their colorful seasonal section currently decorated for Valentine's Day, full of fluffy bears and candy (plus we snagged a few fuzzy things from the home decor section, too). Lexi looked and felt amazing in a new floral sundress and the flowers were complimented by all the fab rosey colors on the candy heart aisles.

We had so many ideas. We seriously could have shot there all day! I'd like think if we had a full session booked we would have ended it playing with her new James Charles, Dare to Create palette for some amazingly colorful glam looks! She brought it along to show me in person, and it's GORGEOUS (and not grumpy, lol)!

That said, it was fantastic getting to know Lexi and I want to congratulate her on her early graduation achievements from Irvine High School. She completed her senior year just this past January, ahead of her class. She will be walking the stage with her 2019 senior classmates in May, with her family and friends cheering her on! Before she left our shoot, we finished her last couple of shots with another thing she loves: Books.

If you are currently a high school junior, class of 2020 future graduate, and you would love some fun new images with your BFF's for your social media, our class of 2020 model call is going on RIGHT NOW until the end of February! Show your parents the information HERE. Sign up, and bring a friend with you! It's a FREE session and a super fun way to get to know us before you book a full Gold or Platinum session!

Let us emphasize: Don't let the words "model call" intimidate you! We are truly looking for REAL everyday high school students and their friends, who love taking pictures, and want something fun and a little different and don't mind giving us some fresh local faces to put on our social media and blog so the community knows we are here and open for business in OC! Just look at all the cute images Lexi got from her session! I promise it's a blast!